Upthegrove, Chrisman elected to WCHCS BOE

According to unofficial results Tuesday from the Fayette County Board of Elections, Ken Upthegrove and Mark Chrisman will serve on the Washington City Schools Board of Education.

Incumbent Upthegrove took the most votes during the 2017 general election with 1,192 voting to reelect him to the board of education. Following close behind was Chrisman, who has served on the board prior, with 1,074 votes.

“I’d like to thank the voters of Washington Court House to have the opportunity to serve them again,” Chrisman said. “I would like to thank everyone who let me put signs in their yard. First and foremost was my family and friends who encouraged me to run, the biggest supporter of course being my wife Lori. She has had to listen to this for the last three months. I want to congratulate Kenny and the other candidates who ran. Thank you all for running and having the strength and fortitude to try and make a difference.”

Chrisman said he met a lot of nice people when he was walking the streets. He appreciated the contacts he made and said that he wanted to stress to the voters that he is always ready to listen. No matter how small someone may believe their problem is, Chrisman assures them he will be there to hear out the problem.

Upthegrove, who has 22 years of service to the board of education, said the he was excited and ready to continue work in the schools.

“I want to thank the people for supporting me as they have done for years,” Upthegrove said. “I am really excited because we are heading in the right path, I believe with the leadership we have. I feel we are just going to skyrocket here in the next few years. I am excited for Mark to return to the board, we have worked together before. I know he is a good man and has a good head on his shoulders. I am glad to work with him again.”

Upthegrove said over the next few years he is hoping to get some more money into the teachers’ pockets. He said that over the years they have gotten many great teachers, but, due to pay not being as competitive in the district as he would like, they have also lost a few great teachers. Upthegrove said to maintain the good teachers they have, the district will need to make these efforts to keep them.

“We don’t have to be the top pay without a doubt, we have a lot of others things we can offer, but money is pretty big for new teachers,” Upthegrove said.

According to the unofficial results, out of the other three candidates, Leah Foster received 721 votes, John Minyo received 580 votes and Donald Branham received 241 votes.